What Breaking Muscle does

Breaking Muscle is a digital fitness media platform that publishes editorial content covering strength sports, exercise programming, nutrition, and product reviews. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, the site targets fitness enthusiasts, gym-goers, and a secondary audience of fitness professionals and trainers, with subject matter spanning weightlifting, powerlifting, Strongman, and CrossFit. Content is delivered freely through the website, a weekly email newsletter, and social channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube; there is no app, no SaaS product, and no subscription or pricing tier for end users.

The underlying technology is a standard web platform built on HTML, WAI-ARIA, CSS, and JavaScript, with no proprietary software products, APIs, or AI features disclosed. The business model is entirely ad- and affiliate-supported: Breaking Muscle earns commissions through the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and direct affiliate relationships with supplement and equipment brands, and it serves programmatic advertising managed by Mediavine. The company is a subsidiary of BarBend Inc, a Delaware LLC, and operates with a small editorial team led by an associate editor and staff writer under founder Mindith Rahmat.

Name

Breaking Muscle

Legal name

Breaking Muscle

Website

https://breakingmuscle.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Breaking Muscle is a digital fitness media platform that publishes free editorial content on strength training, exercise guides, nutrition, and product reviews for fitness enthusiasts and professionals. It monetizes through Amazon Associates affiliate commissions and Mediavine-managed programmatic advertising, and operates as a subsidiary of BarBend Inc.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Fitness Media and Content

NAICS

Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers (71394), Sports and Recreation Instruction (61162)

akta.pro primary industry

Functional Fitness / Cross-Training Groups (HSADABAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Weight Loss Coaching (Non-Clinical) (HSADAFAB), Strength & Conditioning Personal Training (HSADAAAB), Sports-Specific Group Conditioning (HSADABAK)

Keywords

• Fitness content
• Exercise guides
• Strength training
• Workout programming
• Supplement reviews

Headquarters

HQ city

Agoura Hills

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Affiliate Marketing: Breaking Muscle earns commissions when readers purchase products through referral links on the site. The company has affiliate relationships with nearly every company whose products are reviewed, operating through direct affiliate partnerships and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This is the primary revenue model supporting the site's operations.
2. Programmatic Advertising: The website serves advertisements through Mediavine's third-party interest-based advertising program, collecting data through cookies to deliver personalized ads and generating advertising revenue.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Breaking Muscle is a digital fitness media platform that publishes editorial content — workouts, exercise guides, training tips, nutrition articles, product reviews, and strength-sports news — covering weightlifting, powerlifting, Strongman, and CrossFit. The site distributes content for free through its website, newsletter, and social channels and monetizes primarily through affiliate referral commissions and programmatic advertising.

Product overview

Breaking Muscle is a fitness media and content platform that publishes high-quality information on strength training, fitness, nutrition, and wellness. The company produces editorial content including workouts, exercise guides, supplement and equipment reviews, and industry news covering weightlifting, powerlifting, Strongman, and CrossFit. Breaking Muscle operates as a content-driven digital publication rather than a traditional software product company. The primary offering consists of its website content, newsletter, and affiliate-reviewed product recommendations. No discrete product modules, software platforms, or SaaS offerings were identified in the source material.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• BreakingMuscle.com Editorial Website Primary digital publication offering free access to workouts, exercise guides, training tips, nutrition articles, product reviews, and strength-sports news covering weightlifting, powerlifting, Strongman, and CrossFit. Targeted at general fitness enthusiasts, gym-goers, and strength sports athletes.
• Breaking Muscle Weekly Newsletter Weekly email newsletter delivering essential fitness information in a 3-minute read format. Users can sign up to receive announcements, workout and training content, and curated fitness recommendations directly in their inbox.
• Breaking Muscle Supplement and Equipment Reviews Affiliate-linked editorial reviews of fitness supplements (pre-workout, protein powders, creatine, BCAAs, multivitamins, probiotics) and strength/cardio equipment (home gym equipment, squat racks, barbells, dumbbells, treadmills, rowing machines). Each review links to product purchases through affiliate referral partnerships.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Amazon Services LLC Associates ProgramcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerBreaking Muscle participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program that earns the site advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com products. This is a primary revenue partnership enabling commission-based earnings on product referrals.
• MediavinecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerBreaking Muscle works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising on the website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements using first and third-party cookies for behavioral advertising and analytics.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• STACK: STACK is a strength and athletic-training content site focused on performance, sports training, and exercise technique videos and articles. It targets an overlapping audience of strength athletes and shares Breaking Muscle's instructional content angle.
• BarBend: BarBend is Breaking Muscle's parent company and operates a nearly identical editorial model covering strength sports (powerlifting, weightlifting, CrossFit, Strongman) with workouts, news, and affiliate-driven reviews. They share infrastructure, audience, and revenue model, making them the closest direct peer.
• Bodybuilding.com: Bodybuilding.com is a long-standing fitness media and e-commerce platform with extensive workout, nutrition, and supplement content plus a large product catalog. It directly competes for the same affiliate traffic, search keywords, and supplement-review reader that Breaking Muscle targets.
• T-Nation: T-Nation is a long-running strength-training content site with deep libraries of workouts, nutrition articles, and supplement reviews aimed at serious lifters. Its audience and editorial scope materially overlap with Breaking Muscle's strength-sports focus.
• Muscle & Fitness: Muscle & Fitness operates a digital media property covering bodybuilding, strength training, and supplement news, monetized through ads and affiliate links. It competes directly for the same keyword universe and reader demographic as Breaking Muscle.
• Greatist: Greatist is a fitness and wellness content publisher offering workouts, nutrition guides, and product reviews monetized via ads and affiliate links. Its editorial scope, content-led GTM, and affiliate-driven revenue model closely parallel Breaking Muscle's.
• Mindbodygreen: Mindbodygreen is a wellness media brand producing content on fitness, nutrition, and movement, monetized via ads, affiliate, and branded commerce. It overlaps with Breaking Muscle in content-led GTM, fitness editorial, and affiliate revenue streams.

Broad incumbents

• Men's Health: Men's Health is a large-scale men's fitness and health publisher covering workouts, nutrition, and gear with a broad audience and significant programmatic ad and affiliate monetization. It is a broader incumbent that overlaps with Breaking Muscle's content categories but at much greater scale.
• Healthline: Healthline is a dominant health and wellness publisher with deep fitness, nutrition, and supplement subdomains monetized through ads and affiliate partnerships. It is a broad incumbent that competes for the same high-intent SERPs Breaking Muscle targets.
• Shape: Shape is a broad fitness and wellness publisher producing workouts, nutrition, and product review content monetized via ads and affiliate. It is a broader incumbent whose fitness content competes with Breaking Muscle for SEO traffic and reader attention.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/breakingmuscle
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCEZ9wqx86QX_0O-iFtbOfrA
• Facebookfacebook.com/BreakingMuscle
• Instagraminstagram.com/breakingmuscle
• Pinterestpinterest.com/breakingmuscle
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/breaking-muscle

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Breaking Muscle